i am by no means a professional but from the perspective of a novice who wants to get some kind of grasp of how to compose, sequence, and create entire songs from a convient self contained unit the mc303 is a joy. in response to some rather unfavorable reviews, i think it is more intelligent to determine that certain sounds will appeal to certain musicians and the interests of a musician can vary so greatly from person to person that it would be unfair to dumb the sounds on the 303 as being "dated" or "cheasy" if vintage sounds were that distastefull then i must question as to why analog synths and analog modeling synths are now so popular. further more even if this device is primitive in the minds of professionals alike, it seems more respectable that a good musician could make use of the most primitive sources. in other words: should it matter how dated the piece of gear is as long the musician uses it in an effective way? all i know is i've wanted to learn to write music and this machine has made that possibility a lot more constructive and physical than any computer program could have tought me. naturally i do feel alot of memory is wasted on preset patterns and i can't feel comfortable calling myself creative and having to resort to those things. i also understand that the 303's midi capabilities are limited. however paying only $275 through an ebay purchase (which may i add are very easy to find) i really haven't wasted any money at all. it is a potent learning tool and an imaginative musician could very possibly make professional use of it. imaginative musicians could make melodies from alot of unheard of sources if people really wanted to push their minds that far.

course let us not forget that with all devices there are bigger and better advancements. in my view though i certainly feel this machine is an advancement over learning to write music through some computer program that simulates an actual piece of gear. i must say that the $600 retail price the mc303 has is a bit high. buy it used from someone on ebay. otherwise if the mc303 doesn't suit you go buy some expensive, complicated sequencer or other piece of gear you'll get lost in. overall the mc303 is simple synth module/drum machine you can learn fairly easily within a few weeks. and then when you think you have an idea of what you're doing then go and get yourself a nice big ass synth!

Rating: 3 out of 5
posted Sunday-Aug-13-2000 at 21:24

Clint
a part-time user
from USA
writes:

Great machine for starting out and learning the basics of electronic music. I used to own one and it taught me quite a lot. I've seen them go for only $250 recently. You cant really go wrong at that price. Still one of the best values out there IMHO.

Rating: 5 out of 5
posted Monday-Jul-31-2000 at 19:06

dj MICROflip
a part-time user
from chicago
writes:

this thing sucks monkey ass! i just got the korg es-1 for under 400.00 brand new and it tears the mc-303 to pieces. it's not the best kept secret; it's the worst deception! buy the korg or something else (or at least try 'em out first!)

peace,

djMICROflip

Rating: 1 out of 5
posted Monday-Jul-31-2000 at 17:57

mañual electroniq
a part-time user
from san francisco
writes:

i've noticed many people are knocking this device. 33+ pages have been dedicated to glorifying and hating this machine. IMHO this thing is the best kept secret in the electronic music industry today... 448 tones adjustable to thousands of variations, easy to program, it was spotted on Air's last tour through the states you can also use the unit as a sound module and pump your keyboard through it. yes some sounds reach the cheese factor (isn't it all a bit anyway), but overall, as a forgiving laptop composer, for the price and pound for pound punch, this little device is tops.

mostly designed for dance music, you can lower the tempo and work on more melodic sounds, it's got killer atmospheric sounds and scratch basses, some pretty low thumping, a dope arpeggiator, the presets contain house/jungle/hiphop/progressive house/psych-trance grooves. but take this little baby to any party and you'll easily piss of the [box-of-record-carrying] DJ-because the same grooves are all in this little box (doh!).

it's built like a tank and super cheap too—get 3, one for home, school and office...

M.E.

Rating: 5 out of 5
posted Monday-Jul-31-2000 at 16:08

Liz
a part-time user
from California
writes:

Well, I might get flamed for this, but thats ok.

Ive had this MC-303 for about a year and Ive played with it extensively. Sometimes I think about selling it since I have so much better gear, but I know I would regret it. Im going to rate this at the top because I just cant imagine letting it go. I just have too much fun with it. And thats all that counts for me is FUN!!